The 10th edition of Eurovision took place in Naples, Italy, after Gigliola Cinquetti won the contest in the previous year with the song ‘Non ho l’età’. This marked the first time the contest took place in Italy, and the first time a Southern European country had hosted the competition. The show took place at the Sala di Concerto della RAI on Saturday March 20th. The host of the show was Renata Mauro.
A record number of nations took part in the contest, with Ireland making their debut. Sweden also returned to the contest after their absence the previous year. The voting process remained the same as the previous year, with ten-member juries awarding points to their one, two or three favourite songs. The points were totaled, and the first, second and third songs were awarded 5, 3 and 1 points.
Interestingly, Sweden opted to perform their entry in English rather than the original Swedish version. This prompted the language rule to be introduced the following year, where nations had to perform in one of their national languages.
Here is the full list of participants:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Ireland
- Italy
- Luxembourg
- Monaco
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Portugal
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- Yugoslavia
There were three returning artists, and they were from Spain, Yugoslavia and Austria. Conchita Bautista returned from Spain, having participated in 1961. Returning for Yugoslavia was Vice Vukov, who participated in 1963. Udo Jürgens participated in the year prior for Austria.
Here are the competitors:
- Conny Vandenbos – ‘t Is genoeg (The Netherlands) 🇳🇱
- Kathy Kirby – I Belong (United Kingdom) 🇬🇧
- Conchita Bautista – ¡Qué Bueno, qué Bueno! (Spain) 🇪🇸
- Butch Moore – Walking the Streets in the Rain (Ireland) 🇮🇪
- Ulla Wiesner – Paradies, wo bist du? (Germany) 🇩🇪
- Udo Jürgens – Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen (Austria) 🇦🇹
- Kirsti Sparboe – Karusell (Norway) 🇳🇴
- Lize Marke – Als het weer lente is (Belgium) 🇧🇪
- Marjorie Noël – Va dire à l’amour (Monaco) 🇲🇨
- Ingvar Wixell – Absent Friend (Sweden) 🇸🇪
- Guy Mardel – N’avoue jamais (France) 🇫🇷
- Simone de Oliveira – Sol de Inverno (Portugal) 🇵🇹
- Bobby Solo – Se piangi se ridi (Italy) 🇮🇹
- Brigit Brüel – For din Skyld (Denmark) 🇩🇰
- France Gall – Poupée de cire, poupée de son (Luxembourg) 🇱🇺
- Viktor Klimenko – Aurinko laskee länteen (Finland) 🇫🇮
- Vice Vukov – Čežnja (Yugoslavia)
- Yovanna – Non, à jamais sans toi (Switzerland) 🇨🇭
The winner of the show was Luxembourg who was represented by France Gall. This marked the nation’s second win at Eurovision, having won in 1961. The winning song was Poupée de cire, poupée de son, and you can listen to the winning track below: